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Version 2.0 of vector graphics library Raphaël released

Raphaël, the cross-browser vector graphics rendering library, has been updated to version 2.0 by its author, Dimitry Baranovskiy. Raphaël makes use of SVG in modern browsers and VML in older Internet Explorer versions to ensure the widest possible compatibility. The new version spent longer in beta test than expected as it was originally due to be released in May. Version 2.0 was announced at the European JavaScript Conference in Berlin.

The new version includes a new and "dramatically faster" transformation API and implementation, an animation API extension, arrowhead attributes, support for the "viewBox" attribute, a new built-in event system and many bug fixes. The library is available under an MIT licence and can be downloaded from the project's home page at raphaeljs.com. There is also online documentation and demonstrations of the library in action on the project's site; another example of the library in use is The Evolution of The Web. The library is part of Sencha Labs development.